As stated by ANFIA, the Italian automotive industry association, during its annual meeting, in the first nine months of the current year the Italian auto market shrank by 11.3 percent year on year.
In September, the orders intake dipped by 6.5 percent compared to September 2010, when demand levels were already quite depressed (down 19.2 percent year on year). If the downtrend continues - as is likely - in the last three months of the current year, forecasts for early 2012 will be negative as well, as Italian passenger vehicle demand will probably be weaker than in 2011. For the whole of the current year, the latest estimates for new car registrations stand at about 1,740,000 units, meaning that local demand has regressed to the figures recorded in 1993-96.
Also, other segments of the Italian automotive industry are witnessing a sharp market decrease in 2011, apart from trucks (forecasted to increase by 18.2 percent year on year for the whole year), and trailers and semi-trailers (+10.2 percent), which are recovering from the strong contraction of recent years.